Angel Lane by Sheila Roberts – Blog Tour

The small town of Heart Lake is beginning to lose its friendly, small town feeling, according to Sarah Goodwin, who owns the town bakery, Jamie Moore, owner of The Chocolate Bar, and Emma Swanson of Emma’s Quilt Corner decide it’s time to find a way to help people feel more connected. Their solution: random acts of kindness. And not just from them. The women sponsor a town meeting, encouraging the few people who turn out to start a movement. Soon people all over town are extending kindness to each other in heartwarming small ways. But as the three friends cope with lost cats, mixed signals, business challenges, and unexpected romance, they learn that no good deed goes unpunished. Most important, though, they learn that the only way to get a better life, a better town, a better world, is to give your heart.

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Sheila Roberts takes us back to Heart Lake, the small town we got to know in Love In Bloom, and introduces us to three interesting women: Sarah, Jamie, and Emma.

Sarah is in her 50s and married. Her grown children live out of town and she needs to feel needed. She’s the owner of a bakery and decides to use her skills to do a good deed. Sarah’s niece Jamie is a chocolatier and business is good. She’s glad to be busy and doesn’t need to have a social life unless it involves the “Have a Heart” campaign. Emma, owner of a quilt shop, is Jamie’s friend. She has mostly given up on her own “happily ever after” so in her free time she watches old movies and lives vicariously. She has a good heart and can’t quite figure out why things don’t work out in real life the way they do in movies. I enjoyed all three characters but found Sarah to be a bit of a kindred spirit – we’re in the same age demographic. She has a good sense of humor and I related to her feelings about her kids living too far away.

The “acts of kindness” program is a lovely theme that brings people together at the perfect time of year – the holidays. No matter how small, an act of kindness can have a huge effect on people. Each of the women find out that it can have a positive effect or it can produce a totally unexpected result.

A town was like a quilt – one big piece made of many smaller pieces. When you fit all the pieces together just the right way you got a thing of beauty. Why couldn’t they try and fit the pieces together just right? If each little piece did his or her part . . .

“The timing is perfect, just as we’re coming into giving season, when people feel most generous.”

Emma frowned. “We don’t want to limit this to a season, do we? I mean giving season should last all year.”

There are serious as well as funny moments as the plan is put into action. Angel Lane is an entertaining and heart-warming novel – perfect for the holidays or any time of year. I feel inspired by this novel and more aware of my own ability to do random acts of kindness. I recommend Angel Lane.

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You can visit Sheila Roberts’ website at www.sheilasplace.com.

Review copy from the author.

Thanks to Dorothy at Pump Up Your Book Promotion.